Blood on the Badge: How Washington County's Sheriff Became Allegany County's First Hanged Murderer

In 1827, George Swearingen was a young man with a promising future. He was a member of a prominent family in Washington County, Maryland; he had a pretty young wife and infant daughter; and he was elected county sheriff. Then he met Rachel Cunningham. She was a prostitute he quickly fell in love with. Their affair became a poorly kept secret in Washington County. Things came to a head in 1829 when an argument between George and his wife led to her death. He said it was accidental, but he knew he would be convicted, or at the very least, indicted for her murder. He chose to go on the run with Rachel to try to avoid the authorities. Blood on the Badge: How Washington County's Sheriff Became Allegany County's First Hanged Murderer is the story of Swearingen's fall from grace and the trial where he had to face justice. It is a true crime story from another age that deals with the same motives of modern murders, such as love and power. From the mountains of Maryland to the ports of New Orleans, Blood of the Badge is the true story of a tragedy that destroyed a family and humiliated a county in the early nineteenth century.